An Apple for everyone
TECH GIANT UNVEILS A HOST OF CHANGES TO HELP THOSE WITH DISABILITIES GET THE MOST OUT OF THEIR DEVICES
ONE thing which is perhaps overlooked too often on these pages is the enormous potential technology has to change the lives of those living with a disability.
Apple is, as you might imagine, at the forefront of this drive towards better accessibility, having already introduced a raft of software features for its range of products that help all kinds of people get more out of them.
From simple things like the magnifier app, to more complex features like iPhones with LiDAR scanners having the ability to help warn people with vision impairment when they are approaching a door and let them know just how far away from it they are, Apple has already changed the game.
Last week the company went further, marking Global Accessibility Awareness Day on May 19 with the reveal of even more software accessibility features coming across its platforms later this year.
Let’s have a look at the details.
Assistive Access
This is essentially a new mode in which you can operate your iPad and iPhone with specific support for users with cognitive disabilities, and it is designed to make the devices as easy as possible to use.
You’ll find a simplified home screen with large buttons, and icons with higher contrast that make them easier to see.
Once into an app, the interface has been adapted to trim down the features to the bare essentials, lightening the cognitive load. For example, Messages users who prefer to communicate visually can opt for an emoji keyboard.
There are specially adapted versions of Apple’s most essential apps – Camera, Photos, Music, Calls (which combines Phone and Facetime into a simple interface), and Messages.
Live Speech and Personal Voice
Perhaps the most impressive new feature coming to Apple devices is incorporated in the Live Speech feature. This allows users who are unable to speak to have their voice heard by having the phone speak out loud the words they type onto their device.
They can also save oftenused phrases so they can quickly chime in on conversions with family and friends.
Personal Voice is some kind of magic that allows users who can still speak, but are at risk of losing that ability – for example, sufferers of motor neurone disease – to train the phone to speak with a synthesised version of their own voice.
It takes 15 minutes of following on-screen prompts to read out various phrases for the iPhone’s machine-learning power to create a voice that sounds like you.
If the day then comes when the user can no longer speak, their voice can still be heard in conversations with their loved ones via Live Speech.
Point and Speak
This is another almost magical feature that will certainly change the lives of those with impaired vision – it allows users to point the Magnifier app at buttons on their domestic appliances, like a washing machine or microwave, and as they hover their finger over each button, their phone will read out any text labels that are on them, allowing them to select the right option with confidence.
These three game-changing features will come to the Apple platforms later this year.
Apple has also strengthened its partnership with the Guide Dogs organisation to help them teach their operations staff how to help people get the most out of Apple’s accessibility features. These training courses are built on sessions that are available to everyone as part of the Today At Apple programme of free workshops.
If you think you’d benefit from some help getting to grips with these features, I’d encourage you to sign up for a relevant session at apple.com/uk/today… there are a number of different accessibility programmes that will show you how you can use Apple’s devices to their full potential.